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As a culmination of a week of enormous tensions between Catalonia's pro-independence parties, leading civil group the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has bared its claws to the Catalan government led by president Torra and vice president Aragonès, giving them a job to do before 21st December — to create a joint plan for the implementation of the Catalan Republic— and even suggesting that members of the government who don't feel up to the task of keeping their election promises should step down from their posts. The ANC has sounded the alarm in the midst of serious disorientation in the independence camp and an evident crisis between the two major pro-independence parties, Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and the Republican Left (ERC). The other major pro-independence pressure group, Òmnium Cultural, has remained silent.

Catalan politics does not give a moment's rest. Not even the parliamentary agreement reached on Friday, announced with a very forced show of unity, has provided any respite for JxCat and ERC. The ANC has played hard, in line with its ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people every 11th September, and is willing to target the party or parties that ignore the proposal for a joint strategy to advance towards the republic. One can think back to the famous call by the then-ANC leader Carme Forcadell, "President, posi les urnes" - "President, put out the ballot boxes", addressed to president Artur Mas prior to the 2014 independence consultation. That scene was a sharp prod to Mas —not at all pleasant, certainly, in its form—  but it also reflected the symbiotic relationship between the political parties and the pro-independence civil groups, which started to assume a major role in the independence process.

The current ANC president, Elisenda Paluzie, is making a similar move to give the Catalan government a kick up the backside. Torra and Aragonès have not yet replied. Not even have the parties spoken. JxCat and ERC are no doubt made a little uncomfortable by the ANC's forcefulness, although perhaps not both to the same extent. The paradox could be that, if the 2014 gesture was felt as more of a barb in Mas's circles than in those of the ERC under Junqueras, it is now the other way round. The notification to both political leaders of possible street mobilizations if changes are not made and the recommendation of resignations from members of the government who do not want to implement the republic is indicative of something more significant than just a debate between the leading civil group and the two political parties. It is possible that president Quim Torra even sees the possibility of going over the top of the parties and creating a pincer with the ANC to change the cruising speed of the Catalan executive.

The first anniversary of last year's pro-independence Catalan election victory, 21st December, is the new red-letter day marked on the calendar. And watch out, because the municipal elections in May could be affected by that.